7 minutes

On average, I speak to my husband 7 minutes per day.  I divide that 7 minutes between my son and daughter along with the necessary business we need to discuss.  I probably end up really talking to my husband for about 2 minutes per day.  I have in some ways lost a very important person in my life and I think I just came to that realization today.  Of course, I realized it before, but I don’t think it quite set in until today.  My teammate is gone.  I know that sounds incredibly sad, but the idea of having a teammate is something that I only dreamed of in my life.  My life is probably someone else’s nightmare, but it is my dream come true.  I actually have a teammate, who I like and want to grow old with.  How incredibly awesome is that!?!

My daughter had a school program today, which is probably the reason why I am reflecting on this.  I fully expected to go this program, enjoy it and get a little sad that my husband wasn’t there with me.  Surprisingly, my husband tried to Facetime specifically to see our daughter sing the songs she had been telling him about for the past 3 days.  My heart melted when I saw him and it made me love him so much more.  He didn’t get to see it because the internet connection was bad, but he saw her walk in and just the effort alone makes me incredibly proud of the man he is.  If you take into consideration that he is 11 1/2 hours ahead of us and probably dog tired with a crappy internet connection, he moved mountains to see his baby girl.  He is my dream come true.

It may seem small, but I grew up in a home where things like this were glanced over.  I was valedictorian at my graduation in elementary school and my father didn’t even show up.  I still hold that with me today.  When I told my daughter that her father had the chance to see her, her face lit up.  During our 7 minute evening conversation, he told her that he was proud and happy he got to see her walk in.  She could not have been happier.  I doubt she gets how awesome he is, but in a society where fathers who are not at war don’t think to call their children everyday for whatever reason, he’s pretty damn awesome.

Really, 7 minutes is not a ton of time to stay connected; however, it is more than enough time to show that one cares.